Dr. Ted Woodward

Program Manager

Dr. Ted K. Woodward joined DARPA in January 2015 as program manager in the Strategic Technology Office. Dr. Woodward has a background in optical and radio frequency (RF) devices, systems and networks for diverse applications. His research interests generally concern the use of optical and RF technology for sensing and communications, and include high-capacity networked systems in particular. Relevant technologies include photonics, millimeter wave RF, distributed coherent signaling (e.g., multiple-input and multiple-output,MIMO), signal processing methods and host platforms, and networking.

Prior to joining DARPA, Dr. Woodward served more than eight years as a chief scientist in the Applied Research division of Applied Communication Sciences (ACS) (formerly Telcordia Advanced Technology Solutions). In this capacity, he served as principal investigator for numerous internal and external programs in optoelectronics, communications, networking, nonlinear optics, millimeter wave communications, MIMO and RF photonics, including DARPA-sponsored PhASER, Mobile Hotspots and 100G RF links projects. He led internal R&D efforts in broadband access technology and LIDAR and remote sensing research.

Prior to ACS, Dr. Woodward was co-founder and vice-president of Hardware Engineering at Internet Photonics, Inc. After the company was acquired by Ciena Corporation, Dr. Woodward became a senior director of engineering. During that combined five-year period, he co-invented and was responsible for developing many successful dense wavelength division multiplexing (DWDM) optical transmission and switching products.

Dr. Woodward began his career as a member of technical staff at Bell Laboratories Research in Holmdel, New Jersey, where for more than 12 years he conducted research in optoelectronic devices, full custom mixed signal Si and III-V circuits, optoelectronic very-large-scale integration (VLSI) technology and optical communication methods and systems culminating in the spin-off formation of Internet Photonics.

Dr. Woodward holds a Bachelor of Science in physics from the University of Texas at Austin, and a Master of Science and Doctor of Philosophy in applied physics from the California Institute of Technology. He is a member of the American Physical Society and a senior member of the IEEE as well as several affiliated societies.

Programs

The majority of work to develop and mature military wireless networks to date has focused on efficiency and stability in benign conditions. Insufficient attention has been paid to identifying and mitigating vulnerabilities arising from the new features being added to make these networks more efficient. Unfortunately, because of the focus on efficiency, the protocols that have been developed implicitly trust all information shared about the state of the nodes and the larger network. Consequently, when the information that is shared among these nodes is bad, the network quickly becomes unusable.

Modern expeditionary military missions generate and exchange massive amounts of data that are used to produce situational awareness and guide decision-making. Much of the data must travel long distances along backbone communications networks composed of high-capacity links that interconnect command centers.

Commercial Test and Measurement equipment has advanced greatly with the emergence of sophisticated cellular and wireless local area network technology and can be used to intercept, analyze and exploit our military communications signals.

Dominance of the radio frequency (RF) spectrum is critical to successful U.S. military operations. Today, we do this using discrete radar, electronic warfare (EW), and communication payloads that are separately designed, procured, and integrated on platforms. These payloads typically use dedicated apertures, are realized with tightly coupled hardware and software, and are not well-coordinated in their use of spectrum. This rigid and constrained approach makes it difficult and time-consuming to adopt new technology, adapt to rapidly changing adversary threats, maneuver functions effectively in spectrum, and create comprehensive compact RF systems.

Selected DARPA Achievements

In the early days of DARPA’s work on stealth technology, Have Blue, a prototype of what would become the F-117A, first flew successfully in 1977. The success of the F-117A program marked the beginning of the stealth revolution, which has had enormous benefits for national security.

ARPA research played a central role in launching the Information Revolution. The agency developed and furthered much of the conceptual basis for the ARPANET—prototypical communications network launched nearly half a century ago—and invented the digital protocols that gave birth to the Internet.

This is an official U.S. Department of Defense website sponsored by the
Defense Advanced Research Projects
Agency.

You are now leaving the DARPA.mil website that is under the control and
management of DARPA. The appearance of hyperlinks does not constitute
endorsement by DARPA of non-U.S. Government sites or the information,
products, or services contained therein. Although DARPA may or may not
use these sites as additional distribution channels for Department of
Defense information, it does not exercise editorial control over all of
the information that you may find at these locations. Such links are
provided consistent with the stated purpose of this website.